Illusions
by Michelle167
Summary: After a brief and unusual encounter with Kaidan Alenko, Shepard finds that things are not what they seem. Very short oneshot. Takes place at the end of Mass Effect 2.


This is a short and quick one shot that turned out to be a little weird. I wasn't expecting the ending...it just kinda happened.

It's not really a heavy Shenko fanfic but it does have them both in it.

Takes place at the end of Mass Effect 2.

After an unusual encounter with Kaidan Alenko, Shepard finds that things are not quite what they seem.

Due to some of the language which isn't really all that much I rated this for M for Mature.

I do not own Bioware.

* * *

"What the hell did you do, you son of a bitch!" Shepard pounded her fists against the all but invisible barrier that separated her from the object of her rage.

The Illusive Man took a drag on his cigar and blew out a puff of smoke.

"It might have been better if she hadn't survived," said the man in the white coat standing next to him.

The Illusive man barely acknowledged him as his gaze was captivated by the irate soldier before him.

"That would have been too much of a waste, " he said softly.

Miranda and Jacob had been handpicked by him to 'handle' her if she managed to survive, and if they had done their job none of this would have happened. They would come to know his displeasure, but for now all he could do was deal with the woman in front of him.

"Answer me!" Shepard was now pressing her body against the barrier.

He was positive that if she could have gotten past it, she would have slit is throat.

"Calm down," he replied, "Your yelling won't make me answer any faster. We can discuss this civilly."

Reluctantly, Shepard lowered her voice, "Tell me what you did."

"I will be glad too, but first you tell me what happened after you ditched Jacob and Miranda."

* * *

Ditching Miranda and Jacob had not been as hard as Shepard had anticipated. Cerebus employees or not they were still like any other human and following the success of their mission they had let their guard down. Shepard seized upon the opportunity and slipped out of their grasp.

Her flight had soon found her at the Alliance offices at Omega Station.

"I'm sorry but Commander Thomas is in a meeting with someone right now...if you would just have a seat," said the receptionist.

Shepard did as she was told. Until they identified her as an Alliance Officer and Spectre it was best not to make waves, besides she did not relish telling her story. Despite the victory in her recent suicide mission, she felt little pride in being used and manipulated by Cerebus. She actually felt embarrassed over it.

"Everything is in order, sir. We should be able to ship out within the next couple of days." The voice drifted out of the Commander's office as the door opened.

Shepard recognized it immediately. Leaving the offices without so much as a word, she quickly hid out of sight and silently tracked its owner as he left his meeting. She wasn't ready to face him yet, but neither could she let him go. Kaidan Alenko had been on her mind ever since Cerebus had awakened her.

* * *

Shepard's fist hovered over the door. This was her last chance. The words Kaidan had spoken in the Alliance offices were not lost on her...he would be shipping out soon, and she had already wasted a full day fearful of approaching him.

For two years she slept...for two years he had went on with his life. When she awoke he had been fresh in her mind, a constant reminder over the last six months of the love she had felt for him.

But what of him? Did he still love her? Could he still love her? Was the memory of her clear or was it like a faded snapshot found in the back of a discarded scrapbook?

The negative thoughts plagued her.

"What if he's moved on...found someone else?" she thought.

She shuddered. The tough Alliance Commander and Spectre who showed no fear in the face of danger found herself trembling at the thought of his possible rejection.

"Just knock," she told herself. Shepard steeled herself against what she might encounter and found herself rapping on the door.

* * *

Taking his pistol in hand, Kaidan reached for the door. He had already learned in a few short weeks that Omega station was a dangerous place.

A wave of elation was the first thing that hit him...it was not lost on his visitor who returned his broad smile with one of her own.

Shepard's heart beat faster. She wanted nothing more than for him to take her in his arms and never let go.

"Kaidan, I needed to see you," she said.

The smile on his face quickly faded and was replaced with a frown. His brow furrowed as he looked intently at the side of her cheek. Running from temple to jaw was a long pencil like scar.

Shepard found herself puzzled. She had received the scar only recently and although Kaidan had never seen it, she didn't think he would be so shallow as to base their relationship on looks.

The warmth that had been previously reflected in his eyes quickly turned cold and was displaced by what Shepard could only describe as fear.

"Who are you?" Kaidan's eye's narrowed suspiciously as he continued to eye the scar on the side of her face.

The question threw Shepard off guard. She couldn't find the words to respond.

"I said who are you?!" Kaidan's voice revealed a rising anger.

"I...I...I'm Commander Shepard. We served together on the Normandy...Kaidan...don't you remember me?" Fear began to grip her.

"I'll ask this one more time...Who are you?" Kaidan's eyes were now filled with rage. Shepard had only seen him like this once and that was when he thought she might be interested in Liara T'Soni. It had been the first time she had seen Kaidan's darker side.

"I'm' Commander Shepard..." she started.

"Wrong answer." The pistol in Kaidan's hand was now in Shepard's face.

"Kaidan, what are you doing?" Shepard asked, heartbroken.

"I want you to listen very carefully. This is what you are going to do. You're going to turn around and leave, and you're never going to try and contact me again. You understand." The tone in his voice was serious and deadly.

He couldn't have hurt her more if he had fired the gun, but what could she do? She didn't understand his violent reaction. It seemed so unlike him to not even offer an explanation.

Giving into his demands, Shepard turned to go, only to be shocked to see herself staring at her own face.

An eruption of pain shot through her head as the butt of Kaidan's pistol came into contact with her skull. Her own face was the last thing she saw as she fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

"...and that's the last thing I remember. Now...tell me what did you do? And how did I wind up back here?" Shepard asked.

"Evidently, Lieutenant Alenko must have left you in his room once you were knocked out. My guess is that he was going to get the authorities. Luckily Miranda and Jacob found you before he could return and brought you back here. It was foolish of you to try and make contact." The Illusive Man explained as he tapped his cigar on the edge of his ashtray.

The mention of Kaidan made Shepard feel sick. His reaction to her back in his room had left a huge gaping hole in her heart.

"That doesn't explain what you did. Who was that woman with Kaidan? Why did she look like me?" asked Shepard, angrily.

"Why do you think she looks like you?" A smile flickered across his face. He wondered just how much she could really figure out.

"You had me replaced with a...with a.." Shepard couldn't seem to get the words out.

"You can say it...a clone," the Illusive Man finished.

"But how could he not know?" The confusion registered in Shepard's frame as well as her face. She looked utterly defeated.

"We've come a long way in the last few years. The days of cloning only to produce a child of a full grown adult are long over. We can now make exact duplicates...full memories intact. If they didn't know they were clones, they would think they were the real thing."

The Illusive Man poured a glass of scotch as he continued to converse with his prisoner. It was a rare occasion that he got to brag on the Cerebus cloning project and it felt good to be able to reveal everything.

"So she has all my memories...no wonder he thinks she's me. And the scar...that's the reason he looked at it so hard...she doesn't have one." Shepard slid down the barrier wall like a crumpled rag doll.

" No, my dear...you've got it all wrong. I'm sorry. I didn't make my self clear. She's not the clone...you are." The Illusive Man stepped back to gage her reaction. It was as he expected.

Horror dawned on Shepard's face, "You're lying!"

"Quite the contrary. Don't get me wrong. I would have loved to use the real Commander Shepard, and it's not like we don't' have the leverage to do so, but using you...well we needed to know if you were as good as the real thing...and I must say you passed with flying colors." The Illusive man swallowed the rest of his scotch.

"You lying Bastard!" Shepard was back to her feet banging once again on the wall of the barrier, "Let me out of here!"

Sighing, the Illusive Man nodded to the armed guards that encircled the room. They enclosed on Shepard and secured her as the barrier came down. The Illusive Man could still hear her threats as they drug her back to the laboratories.

"What do you want me to do with her?" the man in the white coat asked his boss.

"Have Fenway erase her memory...not all of it...just everything after escaping from Miranda and Jacob. She's not to remember a thing about Alenko and what I told her here. I don't want her knowing she's not the real Shepard. Then put her in cryo. We'll wake her when we have need of her." He watched as the young doctor left to complete his orders. With any luck they would be able to salvage the project.

* * *

"You heard everything?" the Illusive Man asked.

"Everything I needed to," Kaidan said as he walked out of the shadows in the back of the room.

"Thanks for letting Miranda and Jacob know where she was." said the Illusive Man.

"They screwed up." Kaidan stated, flatly.

" I'll take care of them soon enough. Now about Shepard..." The Illusive Man looked inquisitively at the Lieutenant.

"Don't worry yourself. She thinks the woman was some deranged fan that went to the extreme of having plastic surgery to look like her." Kaidan explained, "It's pretty much forgotten anyway. The new mission has her focus now."

"Quite the cover story," the Illusive Man stated.

"You left me with little choice." Kaidan said.

"Just as long as everything is taken care of," he said, nodding at Alenko, "...you know your way out."

The lieutenant scowled as he headed for the exit.

"He really needs to lighten up," thought the Illusive Man as he poured another glass of scotch.

* * *

Kaidan followed the dimly lit hallway to the Cryo facility. He looked curiously at the woman laying in the first chamber. She was indeed identical to Shepard except for the scar on the side of her face. If he hadn't noticed it there is no telling what might have happened. A feeling of sadness washed over him. Despite the fact she wasn't the real Shepard, he felt sorry for her. He knew from first hand experience being under the thumb of Cerebus was no way to live your life.

Kaidan followed the line of Cryogenic chambers until he came to the last chamber in the line. Religiously, he gazed down into the face of the real Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. With his homage paid, he left the facility to return to the woman he loved.


End file.
